Meal between sisters
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Tourtière, also known as meat pie, a holiday classic.
For Joanne Déziel and her sisters, the Holidays begin with a day devoted to preparing meat pies, “chatting and laughing, hands full of flour”. It is an important moment in the transmission of family recipes. “Tourtières taste exactly the same as they did in my mother’s time,” she says, because her daughters follow her recipe to the letter. “My mother did everything by hand: the dough is mixed with a fork gently, with the fat in the size of peas, then we put a little ice water, we bring it to the side – you must not stir too much. . It takes a long time to make, but it’s the best dough, ”she insists. If it has already happened that sisters-in-law, daughters and nieces joined them before the pandemic – “There are always some who are added because they come to learn how to cook meat pies!” “- the boys stand out of the kitchen and come in just to eat,” she says, laughing.
“Emotional comfort”
The year Suzanne Lemelin wanted to bring change to the Christmas table by serving a cold buffet, everyone was disappointed, she remembers fondly. “I believe that a culinary tradition is more than a meal, it is emotional comfort,” she says. At her table, to receive her two sons and their families, she perpetuates an “unmissable” tradition that was bequeathed to her by her mother, Simone. This is also her recipe for meatball stew that she still follows to this day, helped in the kitchen by her husband. As a starter, we do not derogate from the traditional meat pie, accompanied by a tomato aspic that comes to her from her mother-in-law Thérèse – a real treat that gives her husband great pleasure.
A sweet pleasure
Very often, simple little treats are enough to make those we love smile. This is what Catherine Lessard believes, who has never forgotten her grandmother’s potato candies and all her “uncomplicated” recipes that bring back such fond memories to her. “My grandmother came from a fairly poor family and she had a lot of recipes like that. We liked it, as a kid, candy with potatoes. Then came adolescence and we found it disgusting! It was after having had children that she returned to this dessert, which for her rhymes with Christmas. She also introduced it to her husband, who did not know him and found it tastes like marzipan before knowing the three ingredients (potato, icing sugar and peanut butter. ). “It’s something that is easy to do, inexpensive and fun,” she says.
The joy of cooking together
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Sharing a meal with the family, happiness!
” At last ! Exclaims Luc Pilon, who was impatiently awaiting a return to a certain form of normality in order to be able to spend a day in the kitchen, with his children and grandchildren, in preparation for Christmas. About two weeks before the holidays, the whole extended family gathers to prepare pies and sister’s farts which will then be redistributed between the households. The meat is prepared the day before the meeting, then, on D-Day, everything is strictly regulated: one fills the pie, the other covers it, another makes the drawings. Even toddlers participate! Then, it will be up to him to prepare – alone – his traditional meatball stew. “It’s the annual fun,” he says.
From mother to daughters
Julie-Anne D’Aoust has “always” used to cook with her mother and sister for holiday meals. On the menu: cookies, pies, donuts and pies. “I can’t wait to continue this tradition with my niece and nephew, who are now old enough to cook,” she says. His mother’s recipes are from his own mother as well as from his grandmother; from a young age, she and her sister got involved. “Each made a small part of the recipe, but the more it went, the more complete recipes we made,” she recalls. Last year, they nevertheless continued the tradition separately and then shared the fruits of their labor.
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